CIA IMPLEMENTATION OF ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 1978

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00156R000300020022-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2003
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: March 6, 1979
• Content Type: MF

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OGC 79-02116
6 March 1979
OGC Has Reviewed
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
FROM:
SUBJECT:
REFERENCES:
Anthony A. Lapham
General Counsel
CIA Implementation of Ethics in Government
Act of 1978
A. OGC Memo 78-8566 to DCI, dated 29 December
1978, same subject
B. DDA Memo 79-0101/1 to DCI, dated
22 January 1979, same subject
C. IG Memo 79-0170a to General Counsel,
dated 13 February 1979, subj: Role of
the IG in Conflict of Interest Situations
1. Action Requested: Your approval of the recommendations
set forth in this memorandum.
2. Background: On 29 December I recommended that you
appoint someone to serve as the "designated agency official"
to administer the provisions of Title II of the "Ethics in
Government Act of 1978," which requires, among other things,
that high-ranking government officials make detailed reports
of their financial holdings. By memorandum to you dated
22 January, Don Wortman has recommended that you appoint me
to this position, and the Inspector General has agreed.
While I cannot say the General Counsel, or the Deputy
General Counsel, are the only logical candidates for this
position, and while I cannot pretend that I. feel much
enthusiasm about the appointment, neither can I say that it
would make any better sense to designate any other Agency
official. I therefore concur in the DDA's recommendation,
although for reasons noted in paragraph 3 below I think the
designee should be the Deputy General Counsel rather than
the General Counsel.
3. Whoever is appointed to serve as designated agency
official will be ultimately responsible for the receipt and
review of all statements of financial interests filed by
supergrades by 15 May of each year and upon assuming or
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leaving their supergrade positions. He must also ensure
full internal implementation of the Act in all other respects
and respond to the oversight inquiries of the Office of
Government Ethics. Particularly in the early stages.of
Agency implementation of this program, the designated official
must be personally and substantially involved to ensure
compliance. It is my personal belief that the duties of my
Office are such that the General Counsel will be unable to
devote sufficient personal attention to these matters,
particularly during these next few crucial months. Moreover,
the General Counsel currently has overall responsibility for
the Agency's ethics program. Because the role of the desig-
nated agency official under Title II of the Act is just one
aspect of this overall program, and because that role will
absorb more time than the General Counsel will have avail-
able, I recommend that you appoint the Deputy General Counsel
instead. If you concur, it is my expectation that he would
redelegate some of the functions, as outlined below and as
permitted by applicable office of Personnel Management
guidance, and this memorandum also seeks your approval of
these plans,-at least in concept.
4. As I see it, several functions are involved in the
implementation of the Act. First, there is an administrative
function. Current employees covered by the provisions of
the Act must be provided the appropriate forms for filing
their statements of financial interests, as must employees
at the time they enter or terminate duty, and records must
be kept to ensure compliance with the reporting requirements.
The reports themselves must be kept for six years. Educating
employees as to these requirements also seems to me to fit
within this administrative category.
5. Second, it is evident that the Act requires the
performance of fact-gathering and judgmental functions. The
financial statements submitted to the Agency must be reviewed
to determine if all the required information has been provided
and to spot potential for any conflicts of interests. So,
for example, the initial reviewer will have to look for
evidence of ownership of stock in Agency contractors, or
corporate parents or subsidiaries of Agency contractors.
It will also be necessary at the initial review stage to
obtain job descriptions of the reporting officials in order
to assist in gauging the effect of reported financial interests
or liabilities upon a particular employee's duties. In my
view these tasks, which will require a consistency of approach
across all Agency components, could most efficiently and
economically be performed by an Agency Ethics Panel, com-
prised of senior representatives from each of the Agency's
major components, supported as necessary by OGC and IG
services, and chaired by a senior DDA official, such as the
2
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Director of Personnel. The chairman would coordinate the
receipt and initial review of all statements of financial
interests submitted under the new law, and would be the
certifying officer with respect to all those statements,
presumably many if not most of the total, that clearly raise
no questions of conflict of interests. In doubtful cases or
in cases involving obvious conflict of interests questions,
the chairman would refer the matter to the Deputy General
Counsel, who would conduct a second-stage review, make the
necessary determinations, and become the certifying official.
6. In sum, the General Counsel would continue to serve
as the DCI's Ethics Counselor and be responsible for the
Agency's overall ethics program, including the preparation
of appropriate-internal regulations. The Deputy General
Counsel would serve as the designated agency official to
administer the financial disclosure provisions of Title II
of the new ethics law, but would redelegate some of the day-
to-day responsibilities. Thus, for example, the DDA would be
asked to ensure that all current, new, and departing employees
are provided the requisite forms to fill out, maintain
appropriate records, and provide any training necessary for
the education of employees as to the requirements of the
law. The initial review function would fall to an Agency
Ethics Panel. [The Panel's duties should, I believe, include
review, perhaps merely a spot check based upon a random
selection, of financial statements currently filed under E. O.
11222 and which must continue to be filed by certain employees
not covered by the new law. Although the responsibility for
reviewing reports filed pursuant to the E. O. now rests with
the various components, the IG, DDA, and I agree that this
suggested procedure would help to ensure the integrity of
the entire process.] After the completion of initial review,
the panel chairman would certify those statements that raise
no conflict of interests questions. Cases involving unresolved
conflict questions would be referred for decision to the
Deputy General Counsel, who would act as reviewer and certify-
ing officer in such cases.
7. Recommendation: I recommend that you approve the
appointment of the Deputy General Counsel as the "designated
agency official" for the purposes of administering the
financial disclosure provisions of the new ethics law, and
that you give your conceptual approval to the other arrange-
ments outlined above. Attached for your information, in
draft form prepared by the Office of Government Ethics, is a
copy of the financial statement that each employee will have
to fill out.
Anthony A. Lapham
ST
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
FROM: Anthony A. Lapham
General Counsel
SUBJECT: CIA Implementation of Ethics in Government
Act of 1978 -
18/ Stan$fiel-a T air' r
Director of Central Intelligence
14 MAR 1979
Director of Central Intelligence
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